Bottle holder



E. LYON BOTTLE HOLDER July 25, 1961 Filed Dec. 14, 1959 INVENTOR.

2,993,674 Patented July 25, 1961 fiice 2,993,674 BOTTLE HOLDER Evelyn Lyon, The San Marcos Hotel, Chandler, Ariz. Filed Dec. 14, 1959, Ser. No. 859,460 1 Claim. (Cl. 248-359) This invention relates to a new and improved bottle lhlcilder adapted to hold a fingernail polish bottle or the One object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved bottle holder which will prevent any substantial spilling of fingernail polish or the like from the bottle if it is accidentally tipped over.

A further object is to provide a new and improved bottle holder which will support the bottle at an inclined angle so that the fingernail polish or other liquid in the bottle may readily be reached with a brush, when only a little liquid is left in the bottle.

Another object is to provide a new and improved bottle holder of the foregoing character, which is capable of holding the bottle at a plurality of diflerent inclined angles, for ease in removing the fingernail polish or other liquid from the bottle as the liquid is progressively used up.

A further object is to provide a new and improved bottle holder of the foregoing character which is highly effective, yet is easy to manufacture and extremely inexpensive.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will appear from the following description, taken with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a bottle holder to be described as an illustrative embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the bottle holder.

FIG. 3 is a top plan view.

FIGS. 4, 5 and 6 are elevational views showing the bottle holder with a fingernail polish bottle mounted therein, the views being arranged to illustrate the ability of the bottle holder to hold the bottle in three diiferent positions at an inclined angle.

As already indicated, the drawings illustrate a bottle holder 10 adapted to hold and support a bottle 12, which may be a conventional fingernail polish bottle or any other suitable type of bottle. The illustrated bottle 12 is generally rectangular in cross-section, but the bottle holder may readily be adapted to hold bottles which are round in cross-section, or of any other suitable shape. As shown, the bottle 12 is equipped with a screw-on cap 14. A brush 16 may be mounted on the inside of the cap 14 and may be arranged to extend downwardly into the bottle 12, for use in removing the fingernail polish from the bottle and in applying the polish in a thin coat to the fingernails.

The illustrated bottle holder 10 comprises a body 18 which is in the form of a thin, generally U-shaped member or clip, adapted to receive and hold the bottom portion of the bottle 12. Thus, the body 18 includes a bottom wall 20 and two side walls 22 and 24 which extend upwardly therefrom. In this case, the bottom wall 20 is generally rectangular in shape, to correspond to the shape of the bottle 12. The side walls 22 and 24 extend upwardly from two opposite sides of the bottom wall 20. As shown to advantage in FIG. 2, the side walls 22 and 24 converge slightly toward each other, in an upward direction, so that the side walls will be sprung outwardly to a substantial extent when the bottle 12 is inserted between the side walls. In this way, the ;ide walls will exert a spring grip on the bottle, so that it will be held securely in the bottle holder.

In the illustrated construction, two additional side wall elements or fingers 26 and 28 are provided and are arranged to extend upwardly from the two remaining sides of the bottom wall 20. In this case, the side wall elements 26 and 28 extend upwardly from the shorter sides of the bottom Wall 20, while the side walls 22 and 24 extend upwardly from the longer sides thereof. As shown, the width of the side Walls 22 and 24 is substantially the same as the length of the bottom wall 20. On the other hand, the width of the fingers 26 and 28 is somewhat less than the shorter dimension of the bottom wall 20.

The side wall elements 26 and 28 may also converge slightly toward each other, in an upward direction. As shown, the side wall elements 26 and 28 have upper portions 30 and 32' which flare outwardly to a slight extent, so as to facilitate the insertion of the bottle into the holder. As the bottle is inserted, the side wall elements 26 and 28 will also spring out, so as to grip the bottle. The ends of the upper portions 30 and 32 are smoothly rounded in form, as shown.

The illustrated bottle holder 10 is arranged to support the bottle 12 at various inclined angles, if the bottle is tipped, either accidentally or intentionally. This arrangement largely prevents the spilling of fingernail polish from the bottle. Moreover, the holding of the bottle at an inclined angle makes it easy to reach the remaining fingernail polish with the brush, when most of the fingernail polish has been used up. Thus, in the illustrated construction, the side Walls 22 and 24 are provided with flanges 34 and 36 which extend outwardly from the upper ends of the walls 22 and 24. The flanges 34 and 36 provide arms which support the bottle holder 10 in slanting positions when the bottle is tipped. In this case, the flanges 34 and 36 extend upwardly and outwardly at inclined angles from the side walls 22 and 24. The flanges 34 and 36 extend outwardly by difierent amounts, so as to support the bottle 12 at two different inclined angles. Thus, the flange 34 is relatively long, so as to support the bottle 12 at a relatively high angle, as shown in FIG. 4. The flange 36 is relatively short so as to support the bottle at a low angle as shown in FIG. 5. The lateral extent of the flanges 34 and 36 may be varied by changing either the length of the flanges or the angular positions of the flanges, or both.

As shown to advantage in FIGS. 1 and 3, the flange 34 flares outwardly from the upper end of the side wall 22, so that the upper end of the flange 34 is considerably wider than the side wall 22. Thus, the flange 34 has finger portions 38- and 39 which extend laterally beyond the side wall elements 26 and 28, and thus beyond the corresponding sides of the bottle 12. In a like manner, the flange 36 flares outwardly from the upper end of the side wall 24, and thus is formed with diverging finger portions 40 and 41 which extend laterally beyond the side wall elements 26 and 28. It will be seen that the ends of the fingers 38-41 are smoothly rounded. A smooth concave curved edge 42 extends between the finger portions 38 and 39. Similarly, a smooth concave edge 44 extends between the finger portions 40 and 41.

If the botle 12 is tipped accidentally in a direction perpendicular to the side walls 22 and 24, the bottle will be caught and supported by the flanges 34 and 36, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, so that there will be little or no spilling o-f fingernail polish from the bottle. If the bottle is tipped in a direction perpendicular to the side wall elements 26 and 28, the bottle will be caught and supported by the fingers 39 and 41, if the bottle is tipped in one direction, as shown in FIG. 6, or by the fingers 38 and 40, if the bottle is tipped in the other direction. The bottle will be held in in inclined position, so that there will be little or no spilling of the fingernail polish. Moreover, it will be easy to reach the fingernail polish if it is low 3 in the bottle. Thus, the bottle holder is adapted to support the bottle in three different inclined positions, shown in FIGS. 4, 5 and 6.

The bottle holder may readily be made at low cost from a single piece of metal. Alternatively, the bottle holder may be molded from a suitable plastic material. Of course, any other suitable material may be employed in the bottle holder. It will be recognized that the bottle holder may be made very easily and at extremely low cost.

Various modifications, alternative constructions and equivalents may be employed without departing from the true spirit and scope of the invention, as exemplified in the foregoing description and defined in the follovn'ng claim.

1 claim:

A bottle holder, comprising a thin one-piece member made of sheet metal and having a generally U-shaped body forming a clip for holding the base of a bottle, said body having a generally rectangular bottom wall having four sides and adapted to extend under the bottom of the bottle, two side flanges extending upwardly from two opposite sides of said bottom wall and adapted to extend alongside and grip the side walls of the bottle, and two additional side wall elements extending upwardly from the other two sides of said bottom wall to confine the bottle on said bottom wall, said additional side wall elements being in the form of flat flexible spring leaves of substantially less width than the corresponding sides of said bottom wall, said spring leaves being adapted to grip the corresponding sides of the bottle, each of said flanges having a slanting upper portion turned outwardly at an inclined angle and providing a leg to support said holder and the bottle at an inclined angle if the bottle is tipped in a direction generally perpendicular to said flanges, one of said slanting portions extending outwardly farther than the other of said slanting portions and being adapted to hold the bottle at a higher angle than the other, each of said slanting portions being substantially Wider than the corresponding flange and having a pair of diverging fingers extending laterally beyond said additional side wall elements to support the holder at an inclined angle if the bottle is tipped in a direction generally perpendicular to said additional side wall elements.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,140,231 Iefleris Dec. 13, 1938 

